Preview: Mariners v Wellington

This Saturday night we host Wellington Phoenix at Central Coast Stadium and kick-off is 7:50pm.

With a host of experienced Mariners unavailable for Saturday’s match, it paves the way for Mike Mulvey to blood some of the exciting players from the academy set up.

Michael Glassock, Charles M’Mombwa & Lewis Miller are all eligible for selection to take the field in Hyundai A-League Round 21 at Central Coast Stadium.

Some familiar faces could return to Central Coast Stadium in Wellington kits with Antony Golec being called into the squad, alongside former Mariners Academy player Gianni Stensness named in Rudan’s extended squad.

Whilst the Mariners will continue their hunt for a much-needed win, the Phoenix are in sixth place and will be desperate to make up ground on the fifth and sixth placed City & Adelaide.

The last time the sides met, Wellington Phoenix escaped the clutches of defeat to prevail 3-2, at Westpac Stadium back in January, scoring three goals in 17 minutes.

Mulvey in the media

Giving youth a chance…
“It’s a great opportunity for the young lads,” Mulvey said. “I can confirm Joshua Nisbet will be making his full starting debut tomorrow night. He’s earned his spot, he’s a great young lad and he played earlier in the season against Newcastle where he came off the bench and did very well. He earned a contract off the back of that and has a fantastic attitude. He has a thirst for it and I’m more than happy to give him an opportunity tomorrow night.

“Michael Glassock has been training very well, I think he’s is one of the longest serving players at the whole club, he’s been around for about 10 years now. A consummate professional, he plies his trade every week in the NPL and he comes with rave reviews from Ray Junna. That’s the way into the first team, to prove it in the NPL and he’s done that. There’s Charles and Lewis Miller too, we’ve got young lads and opportunity knocks, let’s see how we go.

“As Central Coast local, Michael is a true believer. He believes in the club, the area and that is worth its weight in gold. He wouldn’t be on the bench if we thought he couldn’t do the job. Unless he’d be given the tick of approval from Ray to say he’s ready. It’s never easy to take that step up into first grade. Nizzy came in and he played 45 minutes of really good football and we had to take a step back and now he’s ready for his full debut.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve seen Charles do unbelievable things in the youth team and also while training for the first team, he’s unpredictable.

Thoughts on Wellington…
“Wellington have got a system that works for them. They have two flyers up front in Krishna and Williams. They’ve got a very good young player in Singh in the midfield who likes to pull the strings. They’ve got very strong central midfield players and very experienced back three as well as a very good goalkeeper,” Mulvey said